MX2011004210A

MX2011004210A - Elevator system.

Info

Publication number: MX2011004210A
Application number: MX2011004210A
Authority: MX
Inventors: Kari Suihkonen; Marja-Liisa Siikonen
Original assignee: Kone Corp
Priority date: 2008-10-24
Filing date: 2009-10-23
Publication date: 2011-05-25
Also published as: US20110214948A1; HK1159052A1; EP2346766A1; EP2346766B1; CN102196981A; FI121009B; US8205722B2; MX340137B; EA201100486A1; CN102196981B; AU2009306252A1; WO2010046522A1; FI20080590A0; AU2009306252B2; CA2738888C; EP2346766A4; EA020711B1; CA2738888A1; FI20080590A

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and a system for dividing destination calls in an elevator system, which comprises at least two elevator groups, which elevator groups have one or more shared floors and also destination call appliances on at least the aforementioned shared floors for receiving destination calls given by passengers. The destination call appliances are connected to the group controls of the elevator groups, and the destination calls given by passengers are divided between the elevator groups on the basis of the defined division criteria.

Description

ELEVATOR SYSTEM FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to elevator systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and a system for dividing elevator calls between groups of elevators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION High-rise buildings typically contain a number of elevators, escalators, and other means of transportation to transport people from one floor to another in the building. When the passengers on the floors call the elevators, the group control of the group of elevators assigns elevator cabins for the use of the passengers on the basis of the desired optimization criteria. The call in a conventional elevator system is installed by placing raise / lower buttons on each floor, by means of which a passenger expresses his desired direction of travel and also, after the elevator cabin has reached the floor in which the passenger is located, the passenger expresses in the cabin of the elevator his desired floor of destination by means of the buttons of the floor of destination in the cabin of the elevator. The calling method described above, however, is impractical and often inefficient, as a result of which the call in elevator systems is implemented to an increasing degree by means of so-called destination call systems, in which each passenger expresses your personal destiny floor already in the departure floor, for example, in the entrance lobby before entering the elevator cabin. The making of a destination call takes place by means of a special destination call terminal, either with buttons or by means of an electrically readable identifier, for example, an RFID tag (radio frequency identifier). Since in relation to a destination call, the starting point and the terminal point of each passenger's route is identified and therefore it is available for group control, the group control is able to determine the route of a passenger's journey accurately and optimally compared to a conventional calling system.

In large building complexes, passengers are generally served with more than one group of elevators. An elevator system is often implemented in such a way that a passenger arrives at the destination floor he wants using only a certain group of elevators, in which case the elevator passenger must have advance information about which floors each group of service serves. elevators and must do in the starting floor an elevator call to exactly the right group of elevators to reach the destination floor. Finding the correct group of elevators, however, can be uncomfortable especially in large buildings, causing uncertainty in the passenger when choosing the correct route path. On the other hand, if a passenger has availability to use a number of groups of elevators to reach the destination floor he / she wants, a problem that may arise is that the passenger does not have No information about the degree of loading of different groups of elevators, in which case he / she can choose a more congested group of elevators instead of choosing a non-congested group of elevators that would probably serve him more quickly.

One possible way to solve the problems described above is to combine the groups of elevators and implement the complete elevator system as a group of elevators, in which the assignment of the calls occurs in a group control. The efficient assignment of calls and all kinds of traffic optimization of the group of elevators requires group control, however, the computation of complex algorithms and therefore very efficient ability of data processing if the number of elevators in the group of elevators is older. In this case, the group control is complicated and expensive compared to a simpler standard group control, which is optimized for the control of a smaller group of elevators comprising, for example, a maximum of 8 elevators.

PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate or at least alleviate the aforementioned disadvantages that occur in the solutions of the prior art. The purpose of the invention is also to achieve one or more of the following objectives: a solution by means of which large elevator systems can be easily implemented using standard group controls or group controls comparable to them, a solution in which a passenger easily finds the elevator that serves him in an elevator system comprising a number of elevator groups, a solution that allows the optimal division and use of the transport capacity between groups of elevators, - an elevator system in which the computing capacity can be distributed efficiently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The method according to the invention is characterized in that it is described in the characterization part of claim 1. The system according to the invention is characterized in that it is described in the characterization part of claim 9. Other embodiments of the invention are characterized in that they are described in the other claims. Some inventive modalities are also presented in the drawings in the descriptive section of the present application. The inventive content of the application may also be defined differently than in the claims presented below. The inventive content may also consist of several separate inventions, especially if the invention is considered in the light of implicit expressions or sub-tasks or from the point of view of advantages or categories of advantages achieved. In this case, some of the attributes contained in the claims below may be superfluous from the point of view of separate inventive concepts. The characteristics of the different modalities can be applied within the structure of the basic inventive concept together with other modalities.

The meaning of certain terms used in this context is explained below in more detail: - traffic situation: defines the type of traffic and / or traffic intensity that prevails in a group of elevators. The type of traffic indicates the direction of the passenger flows generally prevailing in the elevator system, for example, upward traffic (from the entrance lobby to the other floors of the building), downward traffic (from the other floors of the building to the entrance lobby). ), internal traffic (traffic between floors), two-way traffic (descending traffic and upward traffic simultaneously), mixed traffic (a combination of different types of traffic). The traffic intensity indicates how heavy the traffic is prevailing in the elevator system in relation to the maximum transportation capacity of the group of lifts, for example, light traffic, normal traffic, heavy traffic and heavy traffic. In addition to the above, many other types of types are possible of traffic and traffic intensities. criterion of division of a call: the term refers to the rules on the basis of which a destination call is directed by a passenger to be assigned to a group of elevators of the elevator system. The division criteria can also be classified into primary division criteria and secondary division criteria. call allocation cost: the term refers to the term estimated cost that describes the ability of a group of elevators to serve a call in relation to one or more desired optimization criteria. An optimization criterion may be, for example, waiting time, travel time, energy, energy consumption or some combination of these. The smaller the allocation cost, the better the group of elevators can serve the call.

The present invention also discloses a method for dividing destination calls between groups of elevators in an elevator system, comprising at least two groups of elevators, such groups of elevators have one or more shared floors and also appliances for destination call in at least the shared flats to receive destination calls made by passengers. According to the method, the devices for the destination call are connected to the group controls of the groups of elevators, the criteria of division of calls are defined, and the destination calls made by passengers are divided between the groups of elevators in the base of the division criteria mentioned above.

The present invention also discloses an elevator system, comprising two or more groups of elevators, such groups of elevators have one or more shared floors and appliances for destination call in at least the above-mentioned shared flats to receive destination calls made by passengers . In the elevator system according to the invention, the aforementioned destination call devices are connected to the group controls of the elevator groups, and are installed to divide the destination calls made by passengers between the groups of elevators on the basis of the given division criteria.

In one embodiment of the invention, the floor areas served by each group of elevators are defined, such floor zones are used as a primary division of calls criterion when dividing destination calls made by passengers between elevator groups.

In one embodiment of the invention, one or more secondary splitting criteria for calls are defined to divide destination calls made by passengers between elevator groups in cases in which on the basis of a primary division criterion a service can be provided to a passenger. passenger with two or more groups of elevators.

In one embodiment of the invention, the devices for destination call define the group of elevators that serves the call on the basis of the given division criteria. In this modality the decision is made about the group of elevators between devices for destination call so that a decision is made about the group of elevators to serve a passenger in the destination call apparatus from which the passenger has made the call.

In an embodiment of the invention, the call splitting criteria for the devices for individual call are defined individually. In this mode, the division criteria can be defined by any destination call device, which is different from the division criteria of the other devices for destination call. As a result of the modality, the call division can be optimized for specific floors to achieve the desired service objectives.

In one embodiment of the invention rules are used as secondary division criteria, in such rules the division of calls is made in the base of a given proportion, in the base of additional information related to a call, in the base of the data of identification of a passenger, and / or on the basis of the cost of assignment related to a call. ' In one embodiment of the invention, they install the devices for the destination call to receive from the group controls of elevator groups, specific information of the group related to the division of calls, such information is taken into account in the criteria of division of calls. In this mode, the devices for destination call receive information from the group controls that can be used to optimize the division of calls between groups of elevators. An apparatus for destination call that has received a call, for example, can send the information of the destination call to the group controls, as a response to which the destination call apparatus receives from each group control an estimate of the cost of the desired assignment, for example, of the waiting time, if the call is assigned to the group control in question. On the basis of the information received, the destination call device transmits the destination call made by a passenger for its assignment to the group in which the estimated waiting time is shorter. As a result of the modality the transport capacity can be divided from efficient way between groups of elevators.

In one embodiment of the invention, the call split criteria are changed dynamically on the basis of the estimated traffic situation in the elevator groups and / or on the basis of an exceptional situation detected in the elevator system. As a result of the modality, the changes that occur in the state of the elevator system can be taken into account in the split call criteria and the division of calls can be implemented optimally in the changing circumstances. The division criteria can be changed dynamically according to the traffic situation prevailing in the elevator system at any time and in this way the transport capacity of the elevator system and / or another desired service objective of the elevator system can be optimized. As a result of the modality, the operation of the elevator system can also be optimized in exceptional circumstances, for example, when one or more elevators are out of service or when the building is evacuated, for example, due to a Fire detected in the building.

Numerous advantages are achieved with the solution according to the invention compared to prior art solutions. By means of the solution, large elevator systems can also be implied by dividing an elevator system into a number of elevator groups, which can be controlled using simple, standard group control systems. The passenger does not need to have information about which floors each group of elevators serves, in which case he / she can easily find the way to the elevator that serves him. An elevator can be assigned to a passenger immediately in connection with making a call, he / she can be guided from the device to make the call to the correct elevator lobby and to the assigned elevator. The solution according to the invention also takes into account the traffic situation prevailing in the groups of elevators and / or an exceptional situation, allowing the optimum use of the transport capacity of the elevator system at the same time improving the level of service of the passenger .

Passengers can also receive individual service on the basis of additional information related to a call or on the basis of passenger identification. Another advantage of the present invention is that the division of calls, the allocation of calls and other data processing can be distributed in the elevator system among a number of different units, in which case the solution becomes simple and effective, and can be applied. and easily modified in implementations of different types of elevator systems.

LIST OF THE FIGURES In the following, the invention will be described in detail by means of a few examples of its modalities, wherein: Fig. 1 presents a lifting system according to the invention; Y Fig. 2 presents a second elevator system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Fig. 1 presents an elevator system, comprising two groups of elevators A and B.

The elevators Al and A2 of the group of elevators A serve the floors 0-10 of the building, and the elevators Bl and B2 of the group of elevators B serve the floors 0, 10-20. Since floors 0 and 10 are serviced with both groups of elevators, A and B, floors 0 and 10 are shared floors of elevator groups A and B. According to FIG. destion 110, which are connected through a bus of equipment 103 to group controls 101 and 102 of groups of elevators A and B, are installed in shared floors 0 and 10. Other floors other than shared floors 0 and 10 can be provided with devices for destion call or devices for arrival call (up / down buttons) and can be connected in a manner corresponding to the group controls 101 and 102, or alternatively directly connected to the group control 101 or 102 (not presenting in Fig. 1) that serves the floor in question. The number and placement of the devices to make calls on the floors can be freely selected, for example, an extra destion call device can be placed in the entrance lobby for people leaving the entrance, in which case a passenger can indicate their destination floor at a good time before reaching the elevators.

The information about which floor areas each group of elevators A, B serves is stored in the appliances for destination call 110. When a passenger makes a destination call on the floor 0 or 10, the destination call apparatus The one that received the call determines, at the base of the floor areas mentioned above, which of the elevator groups of the elevator system can service the call (the so-called primary distribution criterion). If the result of the determination is only a group of elevators (A or B), the destination call apparatus transmits the information of the destination call related to the destination call through the equipment bus 103 to the group control of the destination call. group of elevators in question, such group control assigns an elevator cabin to the passenger using methods of assignment of the prior art. In this way, for example, in the case according to the Fig. 1 all destination calls from floor 0 and floor 10 to floors 1-9 are always served with the elevators of the group of elevators A and correspondingly all the destination calls from floor 0 and floor 10 to floors 11 -20 are served with elevators of the group of elevators B. When the group control, to which the call made by a passenger is transmitted, has assigned an elevator cabin to the passenger, the group control sends information about the elevator assigned to the calling device of the destination sending the call, in said destination calling apparatus the elevator serving the passenger is indicated, for example, with a display means 112 of the destination call apparatus and / or auditory.

If on the basis of a primary division criterion a passenger can be served with two or more groups of elevators, an additional condition is needed, on the basis of such additional condition the group of elevators can be selected to service the call. For example, in the case according to Fig. 1, calls can be serviced of destination from floor 0 to floor 10 both with the elevators of the group of elevators A and with the elevators of the group of elevators B. The so-called secondary criteria of division are used as an additional condition in the solution according to the invention, in such secondary division criteria are intended to optimize, for example, the transport capacity of the elevator system and / or factors related to the service times of a call. Below are some examples of secondary division criteria, on the basis of which the group of elevators that serve the call can be selected: - the calls are divided between groups of elevators in a given proportion. A proportion, or proportions, is defined in the criterion, in which the proportional or proportional calls are divided between the groups of elevators. For example, in the case according to Fig. 1 both groups of elevators comprise as many as two elevators (2 units), in which case each second call can be transmitted to the group of elevators A and every other call to the group of elevators B when it goes from floor 0 to floor 10 or vice versa. in the base of additional information related to the call. A passenger gives additional information related to a call, such additional information is taken into account when the group of elevators is selected to service the call. Additional information, for example, may be information that indicates transportation for the disabled, to such a passenger is given a device for the destination call in connection with a call. In this case, for example, a certain group of elevators can be selected from the elevator system, such a group of elevators being used for transportation for trains trained on the basis of the fact that it is more easily reachable from the destination calling apparatus of which makes the call - on the basis of passenger identification: A profile is defined for each passenger, such profile indicates a group of lifts with which the passenger is mainly serviced and possibly a failure value for the passenger's destination floor.

When a passenger arrives, for example, at the entrance lobby 0, the passenger is identified with a reading device that is in connection with the device for making calls. At the base of the identification, the destination floor of the passenger is determined and an elevator is assigned to the destination floor of the passenger of the group of elevators determined by the profile. Any identification method can be used for the identification of a passenger, for example, identification based on RFID technology. - on the basis of the allocation cost related to a call: The allocation cost related to the service of a call is defined for each group of elevators, for example, the estimated waiting time of a passenger, and the call is made to service a group of elevators in which the estimated cost is the smallest, for example, the waiting time is the shortest. The allocation cost can be determined in the destination call apparatus by itself or in the group controls.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the devices for destination call 110 are installed to receive group-specific information related to the division of calls from the group controls, such information can be taken into account in the call split criteria. The group control, for example, can transmit information about the floor areas served by a group of elevators at that moment through an equipment bus 103 to the devices for destination call. The devices for destination call can also transmit to the group controls the information of the destination call related to a call made by a passenger, as a response for which the devices for destination call receive from each group control an estimate of the cost of assignment related to the call, on the basis of which the destination call apparatus can select that group of elevators in which the aforementioned allocation cost is the smallest as the group of elevators to service the call.

The call splitting criteria can also be defined individually for each destination call apparatus so that the split call criteria on at least one destination call apparatus differ from the split criteria of some other devices for call calling. destination. For example, the waiting time related to a call can be optimized in certain floors by means of different division criteria while the energy consumption related to a call can be optimized in a certain other floor.

Fig. 2 presents a second lifting system according to the invention, in which both the group of elevators? as the group of elevators B can serve all floors 0-10 of the building. The devices for destination call 110, which are connected to the group controls 101 and 102 in the manner of Fig. 1, are installed on all floors. The floors 0-10 are divided into floor areas so that the elevator A1 gives service to the floors 0-2, the elevator A2 to the floors 0, 3-5, the elevators Bl and B2 to the floors 0, 6- 10 Yes a passenger in the entrance lobby 0 makes a destination call to one of the floors 1-5, the call is transmitted to the group of elevators A at the base of the zone division. Correspondingly, if a destination call is for floors 6-10, the call is transmitted to the group of elevators B. According to one embodiment of the invention, the call split criteria are changed dynamically in the base of the traffic situation prevailing in the elevator system and / or on the basis of an exceptional situation. For example in the elevator system according to Fig. 2 the edges of the zones can be changed dynamically on the basis of the estimated traffic type and / or traffic intensity. CorrespondinglyIf one of the elevators of the elevator system is out of service, the edges of the zone can be changed so that all floors can be serviced equally. During light traffic, the zone can be completely removed, in which case both groups of elevators A and B of Fig. 2 serve all floors 0-10 of the building. The call division is based then in the defined secondary division criteria.

To determine the traffic situation prevailing in the elevator groups, each group of elevators comprises a so-called traffic forecast, which records the statistical information about the journey events of the group of elevators at different times during a period of 24 hours and on days of the week. Using the statistical data and the calls made, the traffic forecast can determine the type of traffic and / or the traffic intensity prevailing in the elevator system at any given moment.

It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that different embodiments of the invention are not limited to the example described above, but may be varied within the scope of the claims presented below.

Claims

1. Method for dividing destination calls between groups of elevators in a lift system, comprising at least two groups of elevators, such groups of elevators have one or more shared floors and also appliances for destination call in at least the shared floors mentioned above for receive destination calls made by passengers, characterized in that the method comprises the phases: the aforementioned destination call devices are connected to the group controls of the aforementioned elevator groups to transmit information of the destination call to the groups of elevators; the criteria for dividing destination calls are defined; and destination calls made by passengers are divided among the elevator groups based on the aforementioned split criteria.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method comprises the phases: the floor areas to be served are defined by each group of elevators; and the upstairs areas mentioned are used as a primary criterion.

3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that one or more secondary split criteria are defined to divide destination calls made by passengers between groups of elevators in cases in which on the basis of a primary division criterion can be served to a passenger with two or more groups of elevators.

4. Method according to any of the preceding claims 1-3, characterized in that the devices for destination call are installed to define the group of elevators serving a destination call on the basis of the aforementioned division criteria.

5. Method according to any of the preceding claims 1-4, characterized in that the aforementioned division criteria are defined individually for one or more apparatuses for destination call.

6. Method according to any of the preceding claims 1-5, characterized in that the method comprises the phases: the devices for destination call are installed to receive from the group controls of elevator groups, group-specific information related to the destination call division; and to take into account the specific information of the group mentioned above in the division criteria of 1 calls.

7. Method according to claim 3 above, characterized in that one or more of the following criteria, in which destination calls are divided between groups of elevators, are used as secondary division criteria: at the base of a given proportion; in the base of additional information related to a destination call; on the basis of the identification data of a passenger; and / or on the basis of the allocation cost related to a destination call.

8. Method according to any of the preceding claims 1-7, characterized in that the method also comprises the phases: the division criteria are changed dynamically on the basis of the traffic situation estimated in the elevator groups and / or on the basis of an exceptional situation detected in the elevator system.

9. Elevator system, comprising at least two groups of elevators (A, B), such groups of elevators have one or more shared floors and also devices for destination call in at least the shared flats mentioned above to receive destination calls made by passengers , characterized in that the devices for destination call are connected by means of an equipment bus to the group controls of the aforementioned groups of elevators to transmit information of the destination call to the elevator groups (A, B), and in which the devices for destination call are installed to divide the destination calls made by passengers between the groups of elevators (A, B) on the basis of the determined division criteria.

10. Lifting system according to claim 9, characterized in that the devices for destination call are installed to use the floor areas served by elevator groups as the primary criterion for dividing destination calls.

11. System according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the devices for destination call are installed to divide the destination calls made by passengers on the basis of one or more secondary division criteria in cases in which on the basis of a criterion of primary division can be served to a passenger with two or more groups of elevators.

12. Lifting system according to any of the preceding claims 9-11, characterized in that the division criteria can be defined individually for each destination call apparatus.

13. Lifting system according to any of claims 9-12 above, characterized in that the devices for destination call are installed to receive from the group controls of the elevator groups specific information of the group related to the division of destination calls through of a team bus.

14. Lifting system according to any of the preceding claims 9-13, characterized in that the elevator system is installed to dynamically change the division criteria on the basis of the traffic situation estimated in the elevator groups and / or in the base of an exceptional situation detected in the elevator system.